Crushing
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- This article is about the method of execution. See crusher for a description of the manufacturing process and mechanisms for it.
Death by crushing or pressing, as a method of execution, has a long and bloody history, and the techniques to achieve this end varied greatly from place to place. This form of execution is, however, no longer sanctioned by any governing body.
The most common method of death by crushing was through the use of elephants. This practice was ubiquitous throughout South and South-East Asia for over 4,000 years of recorded history, and perhaps before that. The Romans and Carthaginians also used this method on occasion. See crushing by elephant.
Peine forte et dure
Peine forte et dure (Law French for "strong and hard punishment") was a method of torture formerly used in the common law legal system, where a defendant who refused to plead ("stood mute") would be subjected to having heavier and heavier stones placed upon his or her chest until a plea was entered, or as the weight of the stones on the chest became too great for the victim to breathe, suffocation would occur.
The common law courts originally took a very limited view of their own jurisdiction. They considered themselves to lack jurisdiction over a defendant until he had voluntarily submitted to it by entering a plea seeking judgment from the court. Obviously, a criminal justice system that punished only those who volunteered for punishment was unworkable; this was the means chosen to coerce them.
Many defendants charged with capital offences nonetheless refused to plead, since thereby they would escape forfeiture of property, and their heirs would still inherit their estate; but if the defendant pled guilty and was executed, their heirs would inherit nothing, their property escheating to the Crown. Pleading innocent was also not an option, since the torture would merely be redoubled until they pled guilty. Peine forte et dure was abolished in the United Kingdom in 1772, although the last known actual use of the practice was in 1741. [1] Today, in all common law jurisdictions, standing mute is treated by the courts as equivalent to a plea of Not Guilty.
The most famous victim in the United Kingdom was the Catholic martyr Saint Margaret Clitherow, who was pressed to death on March 25, 1586, after refusing to plead to the charge of having harboured priests in her house (in order to avoid a trial in which her own children would be obliged to give evidence).
The only victim of peine forte et dure in American history was Giles Corey, who was pressed to death on September 19, 1692, during the Salem witch trials, after he refused to enter a plea in the judicial proceeding. According to legend, his last words as he was being crushed were "More weight," and he died as the weight was applied.
References
- Summerson, Henry (1983). "The Early Development of Peine Forte et Dure." Law, Litigants, and the Legal Profession: Papers Presented to the Fourth British Legal History Conference at the University of Birmingham 10-13 July 1979 ed E. W. Ives & A. H. Manchester, 116-125. Royal Historical Society Studies in History Series 36. London: Humanities Press.zh:踏刑